scale, i wasn't involved in that transaction but i'd be surprised if these things were breaking the law because god knows they're not saints, to put it mildly, but i think what you're really talking about is how aggressive you want to be in pursuing deals and some people want to be hyperaggressive, and some people don't want to be. it's a matter of how you go about doing deals. >> the multiple of the companies, the takeover premiums were enormous. the somehow shareholders didn't get the competitive boost that they should of, the idea, a lot of these didn't work out so well either. >> in the background, during the bubble, some of these deals are so big that you had to have consortiums. >> right, and that's part of the issue. >> when we come back, the stage is set the stakes are high, former senator ted kaufman prepped vice president joe biden for tonight's debate. we'll find out what he told him and if he can make up for the president's performance the last time around. "squawk" will be back with more from roger altman after a quick break. >>> tomorrow, "squawk box" has a huge line-up fr